Why so much hype?

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

It hits the expected beats you would expect. Totally entertaining and the narrative arc between the leads is alright. Let down by under developed side characters, lazy storytelling , self seriousness ,and too many musical numbers !Hated the abrupt ending too.q

Was expecting this to be a typical Indian high school/college movie, but it went beyond that. Great new actors which is sometimes a welcome change. Yes some typical Indian movie aspects, but in general Indian movies are moving away from what they were some years ago, overacting, running around trees, and numerous unnecessary emotional scenes,not to mention being over three hours long. This one kept one focused throughout. And those reviews here that think these new actors have no potential, then they need to come out of the time capsule they are in, and they are the ones that probably love the Indian movies I referred to as in the past. It's time to move on and these new young actors are doing just that, taking Indian movies to where they need to be. This was even a shift from a typical Karan Johar movie. Yes the ending is something that could have been mentioned earlier but I guess it made sense to keep it to the end...true it kind of fizzled out in the end but that is to be expected sometimes. I would not hesitate to watch it again!! Great songs too with some old remixes!! Nicely done.

Firstly only barring a couple of actors, none of the actors in the movie looked like students. Secondly i could not believe that the movie was set in India. India does have some good schools but this school was really a fantasy.. Talking about the actors the boys were okay in the movie but alia bhatt was there just like a fluff piece in the movie... The songs were good but should not have been a part of the movie coz they only made the movie more long and much more unbearable.... I did have a couple of laughs but they were too far apart... Some advice for Karan Johar - Please make more realistic movies and stop making fairy tales... SOTY was a waste of time and money.

SOTY is definitely not the movie of the year. Given the fact that it was directed by a maverick and talented filmmaker Karan Johar, one should keep in mind that SOTY is no Kuch Kuch Hota Hai or K3G. Storywise, the film looked like a rehash of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar. It's the story of three people, Abhimanyu, Rohan and Shanaya (newcomers Sidharth, Varun and Alia) who come to terms with life in St. Theresa School (or college I don't know). Who comes out as the eventual winner in this battle of supremacy forms the rest of the story. Newcomers Sidharth, Varun and Alia show much promise as first-timers. Sidharth looks confident though he has no background in acting. He looks fab and got good dialogues too, as is the case with most of the movies of Karan Johar. Varun is handsome and has expressive eyes. This kid could go a long way in the future. Alia is simply brilliant, given the fact that her father and half-sister, Mahesh and Pooja Bhatt are from the same acting background. She looks super-confident as a debutante and looks gorgeous too. Rishi Kapoor was annoying as a homosexual dean of St. theresa's. There are a lot of things though which should've been well-written or explained at least from a director of Karan Johar's caliber. 1) I didn't get whether St. theresa is a school or college 2) the relationship between Rohan and his father should've been better explained. Rohan's father is a man who has all the evil intentions for his son. His character is so one dimensional. 3) too much westernization of the plot like prom night, cheerleading, speeding in the middle of the road with no interference from the cops, parties look so un-indianized that the traditional song "Radha" sticks out like a sore thumb. 4) the ending seems too abrupt and unrealistic. The songs of the film were good but copied from old classical songs, like the late Nazia Hassan's magical 1980's song "Disco Deewane" and Mohammed Rafi's classic hit song "Gulabi Aankhen Jo Teri Dekhi" (from The Train). I certainly didn't expect this kind of stuff from Karan Johar. Did his creativity go out the window? Overall, SOTY is definitely a one-time watch. You won't be disappointed with the performances of the three lead actors.